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Astros' Jeremy Peña back-up plan to get chance to shine in 2025 Futures Game

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Houston Astros v New York Mets / Rich Storry/GettyImages

Much has been made of the Houston Astros' inability to extend Jeremy Peña thus far, and now having to deal with Scott Boras on the other side of the table only makes the excursion more difficult. The concern is understandable given Boras' track record of spurning extensions altogether while trying to extract every single dollar for his clients. One reason, however, that Houston may be hesitant to go all-in during talks with Peña is the presence of shortstop prospect Brice Matthews.

Betting one's future on a prospect while letting a proven commodity like Peña leave is objectively a bad idea. However, Matthews is putting together a pretty loud performance at Triple-A Sugar Land this season while posting a .285/.403/.492 slash line with 10 homers and 23 stolen bases through 67 games. Given Peña's lack of offensive consistency, providing some thought to Matthews' future should at least be part of the discussion.

Matthews is going to get his chance to show what he's got on a national stage as he will join Astros pitching prospect Alimber Santa in the 2025 Futures Game as Houston's representatives.

Astros send Brice Matthews and Alimber Santa to 2025 Futures Game

Matthews is going to get the bulk of the attention at first, but don't sleep on Santa as a relief prospect. Thanks to a triple digit fastball combined with a wicked slider, Santa has put up a 1.27 ERA in 23 appearances at Double-A and honestly should get bumped to Triple-A soon.

As for Matthews, this is an opportunity for him to put some genuine pressure on the Astros to make a decision. It is easy to just leave him at Triple-A right now as no one realistically thinks Peña needs to be supplanted anytime soon. If Matthews plays well in the prospect showcase, his trade value will be quite high and the Astros will have to make some tough decisions as to who to keep and who they can move on from in the long-term.

Odds are, Houston will hang on to Matthews for a bit. He is too talented to give away for nothing and the Astros will at least want to keep their options open (as well as some leverage) early on in discussions with Peña/Boras. With a strong performance in the Futures Game, Matthews could officially insert himself right in the middle of the Astros' plans, though.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.